We have 5 cats and 15 chicks. Oddly our cats don't seem the least bit interested. They do not come near the brooder, peak in or even respond when we have them out. All these cats are serious mouser/birders.

With that in mind, I will never trust my cats or dogs with the chicks, not even when they are full grown.

New to chickens but this is my experience in the last 2 months.

BTW, all our cats are indoor/outdoor cats and our barn and house are practically rodent free.

I would never trust a cat with a chick. Most cats will kill a chick in a heartbeat. Most cats will not mess with an adult chicken, however, but some people here have lost their adult chickens to cats. So, again, never trust a cat with chickens.

Having said that... I have five barn cats who were extremely interested in my adult chickens last year when we first got them. I stayed very close and kept a watchful eye on things for weeks when my chickens were moved outside to their chicken coop/run. All five of my cats stalked my chickens and all five were literally 'attacked' by my chickens and sent running. It's been almost a year and not one of my cats has gone near my chickens since.

When I put my new chicks outside this year I'll again be keeping a very close eye on things for a while to make sure my cats leave them alone also.

Normally I would never trust a cat with chickens. However I do have a cat that likes to "hang out" with them. It's the craziest thing ever. NEVER bothers them. Can't keep her out of their pen(this is the older birds) and they aren't scared of her. I usually see her sleeping right next to them.

My 3 cats would love a free chick lunch but once they get about a month old they ignore them. I had the month olds out loose for awhile the other day and when they went over to check out the cats they (cats) took off for the barn instead. I still don't trust them 100% but I don't really see any problems in the future as long as my chickens are penned up when I am not out there with them.

Some cats you can trust but I trust none. Both of our indoor cats were mildly entertained, after the chicks had feathers and active, then it was a big interest.
I have had a stray cat recently that went after a chicken! The stray cat went for a ride with AC after he smelled like iced tea (I splashed him in the side with it!) Hmph, don't mess with my babies!

I would agree with others that cats may threaten chicks. But, grown birds are another story. Ours free-range our acre yard and get visits by stray cats all through the day. The birds generally ignore the cats and the cats usually slink around in the shadows so as not to incur the wrath of the chickens. One cat even visits regularly to drink the birds water and eat their layer pellets. I'm sure that if a cat was dumb enough to mess with our birds it would be one hurting cat.

I'm glad to hear all these stories...although I still don't trust my cat with my chicks. Today we had to put them outside. Their coop isn't ready...their run isn't ready but we had a huge storm come through last night that flooded our basement (12" of water down there). Well, the chicks were all on the roost staying dry but obviously couldn't leave them there. We have a section fenced off in our pole barn that we used for stray and unwanted dogs temporarily. So, we have also put the chicks there. The run should be finished by the end of day and will be placed in the pole barn until the coop is finished. I should mention it is a 3-sided pole barn so one side of the section is totally open. The run will be topless for the time being although we plan to cover it as well. Since the pole barn is covered, I think it will work. I also moved their baby brooder (40 gal tub) out there for them to sleep in. I only have six chicks which is a good thing right now!The chicks are 8 weeks old so I think I'm just paranoid about predators and not ready to untie those apron strings.

My seven cats from my previous marriage (my ex has custody) always co-existed with our chickens, even one day old's. But they had a very responsible roster guarding them. Now I have seven cats again, most of them rescued ferals, and I wouldn't trust them for a second with my small chickens. Everything here is cat-proof. Even the incubator has a ventilated cuboard of it's own. One of the cats though, our Sasha, consider the chickens as family and would defend them agains the other cats. I don't find it difficult to solve though. It is just for a short period of time. I have an old transport gage for dogs with som chicken wire as brooder and the cats sleep on top of it. Once the chickens are big there is no problem. I have even had bantams that moves the cats out of their way. Now I have tandard cochins so they are bigger than the cats and definitely in charge.